Chapter Seventeen
Vivien opened Haven’s front door to a sight that had greeted her a thousand times since her first day of preschool—Faith Nolan Warner waiting to come in.
“Thanks for coming all the way out here.” Vivien ushered her inside. Having Faith here made it feel more like home than anything had since she got back to Dallas.
Faith pulled her in for a hug that Vivien couldn’t resist. “It’s no problem. I haven’t been here in ages, and I was in desperate need of a girls’ night in. I even had to dress the part.”
Vivien laughed at the old pink-and-purple plaid pajamas she recognized from their high school days. “I’m just impressed and seriously jealous you can fit into those still.”
“But your PJs are so cute.” Faith followed Vivien into the great room where Greer sat curled up with her tablet. “I didn’t know you were into Superman.”
Greer snickered. “She’s not. All her PJs are froofy, La Perla shit, but since she started screwing Liam, she’s fond of wearing his shirts with her one pair of leggings.”
“Liam? Our Liam?” Faith settled herself in a corner of the big sectional couch and took a handful of Mrs. H’s homemade Chex mix.
“Yes.” Vivien’s cheeks warmed as she joined her friend on the couch. How many times had they sat on this couch, talking about boys over the years? As much as she didn’t want to explore her relationship with Liam, she wouldn’t trade this chance for the world.
Faith tilted her head to one side, pondering the idea. “Huh. I didn’t think you’d actually act on all that sexual tension. Well done, you.”
“She’s been at his house almost every night for two weeks. You should consider yourself lucky she agreed to be parted from him,” Greer teased.
Vivien threw a pillow at her sister. Things between them were slowly easing, especially now that Vivien was with Liam, but there was still a lot of anger under the surface. It was nice to take a brief break from that. “I’ll thank you to mind your own business, Gigi. At least I’ve had the courage to act on the sexual tension, unlike someone I could name.”
“I don’t know what you’re talking about.” Greer sniffed before returning her attention to her tablet.
“Right.” Vivien turned back to Faith. “How are you? Did the benefit turn out well?”
Faith nodded, pouring herself a glass of the red wine set out with the snacks. “It was hugely successful. We got enough money to fund our satellite campuses for the next six or seven months, plus enough to cover all our busing expenses.”
“That’s fantastic,” Vivien said, pouring her own wine. “I can’t tell you how much it means to me that you’re doing so much to honor our mom’s memory.”
“I’m happy to do what I can.” Faith smiled. “She was always so good to me. I actually wanted to talk to Greer about helping me with a program to specifically bring in girls and get them interested in STEM subjects.”
Greer looked up. “I’d love to. I’m working on some games that might be good to supplement a program like that.”
“What are you drawing over there now?” Vivien asked, munching on some popcorn.
“A female archaeologist. Rugged, slim build, but with a few softer edges to appeal to the male fan base. She’s going to have sass and swagger, both in her hair and her walk.” Greer’s eyes lit up when she talked about her drawing, going into another world, just like Jed’s used to when he was deep into a game’s design.
Vivien nodded. “She’s going to be wearing actual clothes, right? None of those stupid cutoffs and belly shirts like some games Liam’s showed me.”
“Jeans and a button-up,” Greer assured her. “Dad said as the father of daughters, he wanted other fathers to be comfortable letting their girls look up to the women in MT games, and he wanted to show the boys interested in said daughters that women were more than just their bodies.”
Vivien’s heart clenched a little. One of the few happy memories of her parents was of her mom and dad having that conversation over the dinner table.
“That was one of the things he promised Mom. Before you were born. They were talking about one of the early games at dinner one night and how Uncle Richard and some others thought Jed should follow the trend and draw a super-slutty warrior princess or something, but he didn’t want to. Mom pointed at me and told him to create heroines that I would want to be and boys would want to admire for more than their looks. Then he got on one knee like one of those knights in the old stories and pretended his knife was a sword and swore to her that he would always make sure that his company made characters like that.”
Faith’s eyes misted over. “That’s so sweet.”
Greer blinked furiously, her jaw clenching a little and her expression darkening. “I only hope that promise will be kept by whoever takes over as the new CEO.”
“I’ll make sure that Liam and you have the means in place to ensure that they do,” Vivien said quietly. “Now, what movie should we watch? I was thinking When Harry Met Sally.”
“Perfect!” Faith agreed.
They were at the part where Harry and Sally started to be friends again when Greer yelled, “What the hell?”
“What is it?” Vivien asked, pausing the movie.
“I was checking my email, and there was one from this address I didn’t recognize and it’s creeping me the fuck out,” Greer said.
Vivien reached for the tablet, noting that the sender’s address looked fairly generic—[email protected]; it could have been any of a thousand companies that emailed them throughout the day. As she read, a knot of anxiety gathered in the pit of her stomach.
So cute. Your little security guard and the bumbling designer think they can keep your slut of a sister in charge of the company that should belong to us. Even more adorable, they think they’ll actually be able to catch me. Tell them to give it up, little girl. They’ll never catch me. Keep searching and only bad things will happen.
Below it were pictures of the Monroe sisters at the gala…and in the crosshairs of a rifle.
“Shit. Not again,” Vivien muttered, scrambling for her phone.
“Again? What do you mean again?” Greer asked.
“Vivi, what’s going on?” Faith put a hand on her shoulder.
“I’ll explain everything in a minute.” Vivien hesitated over Eli’s contact file before clicking on Sophia Calhoun’s. As much she had her issues with the woman’s past with Liam, she was a damn good FBI Agent and she already knew about the text.
“Calhoun.” The clipped reply was followed by a soundtrack of fingers moving over a keyboard.
Vivien took a deep breath and clicked on the speaker icon. “Sophia. It’s Vivien. You remember that text I told you about? Greer just received an email like it, except there’s threatening pictures to go with it.”
“Shit.” Sophia blew out a long breath. “Okay. I’m going to need you to bring the computer in, along with any relevant passwords. I’ll call Eli and give him a heads-up.”
Vivien rubbed her temple, glancing at her sister. “Do we have to tell Eli?”
“No, no telling Eli,” Greer urged. “Whatever it is. He’ll go all caveman on us.”
Sophia let out a wry chuckle. “He probably will go caveman on you, but it’s his job to protect you and your sister. Someone is threatening your safety, directly now. His team needs to know so they can be on alert.”
“Fair point.” Vivien sighed, leaning back into the couch, staring at the paused scene on the movie. Why couldn’t they just go back to the weird détente and fun girls’ night? She wanted to stab whoever sent that email with the heel of her pointiest shoe. “But can we not tell Liam?”
As soon as she said it, she remembered who she was talking to. Liam’s pretty, geeky ex, who somehow still managed to keep a civil relationship with him. Why would she keep a secret from him for a woman she barely knew?
“That’s up to you,” Sophia said, her tone clipped.
“It’s just, well, underneath that mild-mannered exterior, he’s got a tendency to get a little overprotective, and I don’t want him getting freaked out about this.” Vivien was rambling. She never rambled, but the idea of this intruding and disturbing the tenuous balance of her relationship with Liam had her throat closing.
“Jesus. You and Liam. What an overprotective, idiotic pair. Withholding information isn’t healthy, you know,” Sophia muttered.
Vivien’s interest was piqued. What on earth was she talking about? Surely, she was referring to Liam initially keeping the FBI involvement in the copycat case a secret.
She finalized details to take the tablet by Sophia’s office first thing in the morning, and then she hung up. Faith and Greer’s eyes bore into her, as if willing her to speak. She didn’t plan to indulge them without a fight.
“What text, Vivi?” Greer demanded, her expression hard and closed off. Great. One step forward, two steps back, she guessed.
Faith tucked her legs up tighter to her body, worry lines etched in her face. “And why don’t you want to tell Eli and Liam?”
Vivien tilted her head against the back of the couch, closing her eyes as if that could hide her from their questions. “I’m sick of getting whoever is behind this that much power over us. If I tell the guys, they’ll freak out and do more to hem us in for no reason, and then this sicko wins. And Liam and I just started this…whatever, and my number one rule for whatevers is ‘no drama.’ Guy sending threatening texts and emails? That’s lots of drama.”
“I get it,” Faith said while Greer brooded. “Letting guys in on the drama takes away the magic. But you also need to be safe. I don’t know what exactly is going on here, but between the break-ins and that email, I know you need to be careful and that means letting people in who can protect you.”
“Liam doesn’t deserve to be shut out any more than I do. This is more than you and Eli let on,” Greer snapped. “Liam’s part of this, too, even without you screwing him every night for the last two weeks.”
Vivien bit back the retort that immediately popped into her head. It was supposed to be screwing, damn it. It wasn’t supposed to be anything more. So why did it sting to hear her sister calling it that?
“And I’m not a kid. What aren’t you telling me about this?” Greer asked. “Who is Sophia? Why did you call her first and not Eli?”
Vivien’s temper spiked, along with the tension headache. Blessedly, someone banged on the front door, granting her a reprieve.
The second she unlocked and opened the door Eli came striding in, his own temper rolling off him in a steady wave. “What’s this about a text and an email?”
As the big man strode into the great room, Faith paled a little. Vivien went to sit beside her friend, giving her hand a squeeze. “Sit down and take a chill pill, Eli.”
Her head of security looked like he might want to smack her, but he took a seat beside Greer, his body remaining rigid. To his credit, he listened to her story, including a few more salient details for Greer’s and Faith’s benefits, with only one minor expletive tossed in.
“We’re increasing your security,” Eli said as soon as she finished. “And I’m going to have the guys patrolling the grounds here and at MT. Sophia will have some fancy shit to do with the email and the text, but I want you both to be on your guard.”
“I can’t believe you didn’t tell me any of this.” Greer glared at them. “You both have been treating me like a little kid. This is my company, too. Why didn’t you tell me all of this was so serious?”
Eli’s gray eyes softened when he looked at Greer, a fact that set off Vivien’s protective instincts. “Because we didn’t want to worry you. You’re dealing with enough with your dad dying, and there’s not a lot you could do to help. And before you freak out on us, we’ll keep you updated from now on. For your own safety, you need to know what’s going on.”
“And you’re going to tell Liam for the same reason,” Faith said gently from beside Vivien. “I know I’m not really part of this, but he deserves to know. I… Even after all these years, I still think of you as my best friend, Vivi, and I want you to stay safe, even if it means you have to break a few of your rules.”
Faith’s gentle prodding and patient logic did more to get through to Vivien than any of Eli’s stern talking-tos or Greer’s moody jabs.
“You’re right. I hate it, but you’re right. I’ll tell him. Soon.”
…
“Mom. I really, really don’t think that’s necessary,” Liam said, wedging the phone between his shoulder and his ear. Flynn pranced around the backyard, a ball in his mouth. Vivien sat behind Liam on the lounge chair, her feet tossed across his lap. She smelled of the organic bug spray she’d insisted on buying for when they sat on his back porch and the underlying scent of the Lalique perfume she favored, and all he could think about was tasting every inch of her.
They were out on his porch enjoying the rare mild June evening while Flynn got some of his energy out. There’d been something lingering in the air, something that Vivien wasn’t telling him, but he couldn’t put his finger on it and he didn’t want to break the spell to ask. Until his mother called, they’d been in the middle of an enjoyable make-out session. In fact, his hands were able to slip past the waistband of yet another pair of fuck-hot, lace panties when his phone rang. It wasn’t lost on him that his mother still had the ability to bust him while he was making out with a girl. He was just grateful she’d stayed on her side of the fence—and that she couldn’t see onto his porch from any vantage point in her house.
“Sweetheart, it’s very necessary. Now, I’ve been good and let you canoodle in peace for several weeks now. I’ve already talked to Greer and she thinks it’s a lovely idea.” Diana’s no-nonsense voice kicked in. Shit. It would take a lot of time and effort to wrangle his way out of this if she was set on it. “My sources tell me you and Vivien are spending a lot of time together. It’s only right that I have y’all over for dinner. Not to worry; Greer and that lovely young man in charge of security will be here, too. No pressure. It’s not like it’s an official meet-the-parent type dinner.”
He bit back a snort. No pressure. Right. He sent a wary glance at Vivien over his shoulder. They just found a tentative balance to their relationship dynamic. She was starting to trust him, to let him in to the point he felt guilty that he hadn’t filled her in on the ongoing investigation into her dad’s death. Except for her girls’ night in with Faith and Greer last night, she’d spent nearly every night with him since she told him about her ex. Every now and then, she had moments where he could tell she still worried because of that idiot, but she seemed to accept that Liam wasn’t going anywhere.
More surprising, he’d accepted that he didn’t want her going anywhere, either. She fit into his life in this perfect way he’d never seen coming, but he was letting her believe things were still no strings. Taking her to dinner at his mom’s house, even if it was just over the fence, seemed like exactly the wrong move to make when she was still halfway out the door.
“Look, Mama. I’ll talk to Viv and see what she says. No promises.”
“Talk to me about what?” Vivien wiggled her feet as he ended the call. Tonight felt almost…idyllic. He and Vivien had ridden home from work together, and he’d fixed some chicken on the grill while she put together a salad of tomatoes, mozzarella, and fresh basil from the little window box his mom gave him at the beginning of the summer.
Now, they sat together on the chaise, as she sipped some sparkling wine she’d told him she liked, and he nursed a bottle of a local microbrew. Citronella candles burned around the edges of the patio to keep the mosquitoes at bay. After Flynn wore down, he’d planned to take her inside to snuggle on the couch, making out under the guise of watching an old movie. Now, he could see the train sliding off the rails much sooner than he’d expected in more ways than one.
“Mama wants you to come to dinner tomorrow night.” He settled his hands around one of her feet, rubbing arches still tight from those stilts she wore. Judging by the satisfied groan from behind him, the shoes might be sexy, but they hurt like hell.
“It’s not one of those dinners. I promise. Greer and Eli will be there, too. Say no and we can get out of it.”
Part of him wanted her to say no. His knee-jerk reaction had been to tell his mother hell no the second she brought it up. They were closer than most, but he rarely introduced her to anyone he dated. There had been maybe two or three others besides Sophia. Since moving into their townhouses, he’d deliberately kept his dates away from his house. Just as she’d kept him away from her handful of boyfriends when he was a kid, he wanted to keep his mom from getting hurt if things ended with one of his girlfriends she’d gotten close to. Vivien’s track record with parents initially made him wary, but his mother had to know Vivien was right there with him when she asked, leaving him little wiggle room.
“Dinner? With your mother?” Vivien repeated the words slowly, as if she were trying to process a calculus equation.
“And your sister and Eli,” he added. “So it’s not like it would be your typical meet-the-parents thing. I’ve told her we’re not a serious couple, but she wants to get to know you. She and Jed were good friends, and she and Greer get along well and we’ve been spending time together, so naturally she wants to meet you. Only as a friend. I swear.”
Doubt and skepticism lingered in her pretty green eyes, which hit him like a punch in the gut. He worked hard to establish a clear line between her past relationships—especially her relationship with that bastard Christopher—and her relationship with him. He didn’t want to just be a booty call. Sure, they spent a lot of time together in bed, but he also made sure that there was more between them. They talked; they laughed. Hell they even went on walks through the nearby park some nights. But there was still a gap between them, one that he didn’t know how to bridge.
The uncertainty didn’t last long, though; it was soon replaced by a steely stubbornness. Yup, that he recognized. Nothing phased Viv for long; not even going home to “meet the parents” so to speak. She put up a good front, but how long would that hold up before the Ice Queen took over?
“Okay. Let’s do it.”
“You sure?” A million different horribly embarrassing scenarios ran through his head on a number of different levels. The number of incriminating pictures his mother had of him would probably send her running for the next plane to New York as fast as her Manolos would carry her.
And that didn’t begin to cover the freak-outs he saw Viv having. She could barely make it through dinner with her little sister without breaking out in hives. Meeting his mom, on top of having dinner with her sister, doing something so normal and couple-like had the potential to have those walls of hers come right back up at full force.
“Yes. No. I don’t know.” Vivien rested her forehead on his back. “It’s not a big deal, right? I mean it’s not like you’re taking me home for your mother’s approval because you want to marry me. It’s a dinner between family friends. I mean, your mom knows I’m going back to New York as soon as this mess is cleaned up, right?”
“Right.” Liam shifted so he could press a reassuring kiss to her mouth. He didn’t see any reason to tell her what his mother almost certainly already knew—in spite of himself, in spite of her time here having an expiration date, he was falling in love with Vivien. Wearing his heart on his sleeve right now would make that steely resolve she’d dug up disappear faster than her lacy panties did every chance he got.